hall strew the ocean
with its ruins, and give his icy form to the monsters of the summer
seas."

"Let us then to our task, Regnar," said La Salle, "for our friends may
follow on our track, and I fear we shall have need of the closest
secrecy concerning the fate of this unhappy man, at least until we are
safely landed on civilized shores."

Carefully descending the slippery way which led up to the aperture, they
descended to the level ice, and seeking the floe, enveloped the body in
one of the many seal-skins surrounding them, swathing it closely, and
binding the hairy covering with strong lashings of raw hide, leaving
loops at each extremity. Gently drawing it to the ice below the
aperture, they ran the cord through the loops, knotting each firmly, so
that nearly half the rope projected from each end.

Taking one end, and setting the shrouded form upright against the smooth
slope, the companions ascended to the aperture, and with some difficulty
managed to haul up their unwonted burden.

"We can find no footing here," said Regnar, who no longer affected his
partial ignorance of English. "You, I think, had better descend again,
and take a turn of your end around that pinnacle. I will go down into
the grotto and guide its descent."

[Illustration: KNEELING BESIDE IT, THE LAD BOWED HIS HEAD AS IF IN
SILENT PRAYER. Page 269.]

By this means the closely-swathed body was gently lowered into its
last resting-place, and gathering up the axes and his rifle, La Salle
followed to assist in in the final rites of sepulture. Regnar pointed to
the centre of the floor.

"That will furnish a pedestal which would befit the sarcophagus of a
king."

Among the irregular mounds formed by the dripping of water from the roof
above, was an ice stalagmite, about five feet high, and seven feet in
length, broad at the base, but rapidly narrowing to a sharp point.
Attacking this with his axe, Regnar soon split off the point, and
commenced hewing the stalagmite down to a uniform height of about two
feet. La Salle assisted, and in the course of twenty minutes they had
formed a snowy pedestal, whose irregular outline bore no small
resemblance to that of the burden it was to sustain. Regnar cleared away
the ice-chips, hurling the larger shards to an obscure corner, and
carrying the smaller ones in his reversed fur cap.

At last the work was completed to his satisfaction; and motioning to La
Salle, he cast off the lashings, and raising the b